RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji
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Right, I've watched it. TBH it wasn't a complete disaster, but wasn't up to Tier 1 standard.
Rugby, like a lot of sport, is a game of inches. Mostly for us it is the top 2 inches that goes missing.
We had a chance to draw level with 10 to go and fluffed our lines. So many times through the match we made good ground and then didn't secure our ball. Wales will have watched that with interest.
A proper Tier 1 team would have finished that game off. Sliding doors but I'd have backed Rennie's Wallabies to win that game. There, I said it.
Our maul defence was rubbish. Our maul attack not much better. When you're no good at the breakdown, you're no good. The stupidity of some of the penalties was mind-boggling.
White needs to go. The increase in speed was noticeable when IFL came on. Lonergan from the Brumbies should be parachuted in. I don't really rate McDermott's passing either, and if you want to play quick rugby on the fringes you need quick passing.
Petaia does nothing, and in fact is a negative. Partly for his stupid kicking just outside Fiji's 22, but also witness him hanging out on the wing in one of our last attacking plays instead of being close in to support or take a short ball.
I'm fucking sick of over-hyped kids who come out of school or club rugby, having torn it up, only to get all their shit destroyed against grown men. This is why we need a third tier - to sort out this bullshit schoolboy rugby once and for all. But that is a rant for another thread. Put Uelese in that column. Marky Mark not much better but at least offers something on attack.
The inability of the back three to take the high ball cost us a lot. Gordon, Marika, and Marky Mark to take blame there.
But enough about the clods...
Frost was the shining light of the forward pack. Good in contact, great in the air. Poor bastard has one of his ears half-separated from his head and still going for 80 minutes. Champion.
Porecki also good in hitting all his targets.
Valetini was pretty good as well but zero support.
In general we looked flat.
Referee - jeez if we'd had a TMO like that Aussie dickhead the other night there might have been some cards both ways. Brace is someone I have trouble watching, but have no issue with his decision-making in general. Lot of shit missed both ways.
TBH we weren't far away but 1 point behind was too far at this stage of the campaign.
Fiji were pretty good. Dropped a lot of ball. Great scrum but had an advantage with Slipper there, and went even harder when Philip came into the second row and got the reward at the end.
They've always been good athletes. Weld a bit of set piece and discipline onto them and they'll go far.
Hope Tonga were watching.
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Right, I've watched it. TBH it wasn't a complete disaster, but wasn't up to Tier 1 standard.
Rugby, like a lot of sport, is a game of inches. Mostly for us it is the top 2 inches that goes missing.
We had a chance to draw level with 10 to go and fluffed our lines. So many times through the match we made good ground and then didn't secure our ball. Wales will have watched that with interest.
A proper Tier 1 team would have finished that game off. Sliding doors but I'd have backed Rennie's Wallabies to win that game. There, I said it.
Our maul defence was rubbish. Our maul attack not much better. When you're no good at the breakdown, you're no good. The stupidity of some of the penalties was mind-boggling.
White needs to go. The increase in speed was noticeable when IFL came on. Lonergan from the Brumbies should be parachuted in. I don't really rate McDermott's passing either, and if you want to play quick rugby on the fringes you need quick passing.
Petaia does nothing, and in fact is a negative. Partly for his stupid kicking just outside Fiji's 22, but also witness him hanging out on the wing in one of our last attacking plays instead of being close in to support or take a short ball.
I'm fucking sick of over-hyped kids who come out of school or club rugby, having torn it up, only to get all their shit destroyed against grown men. This is why we need a third tier - to sort out this bullshit schoolboy rugby once and for all. But that is a rant for another thread. Put Uelese in that column. Marky Mark not much better but at least offers something on attack.
The inability of the back three to take the high ball cost us a lot. Gordon, Marika, and Marky Mark to take blame there.
But enough about the clods...
Frost was the shining light of the forward pack. Good in contact, great in the air. Poor bastard has one of his ears half-separated from his head and still going for 80 minutes. Champion.
Porecki also good in hitting all his targets.
Valetini was pretty good as well but zero support.
In general we looked flat.
Referee - jeez if we'd had a TMO like that Aussie dickhead the other night there might have been some cards both ways. Brace is someone I have trouble watching, but have no issue with his decision-making in general. Lot of shit missed both ways.
TBH we weren't far away but 1 point behind was too far at this stage of the campaign.
Fiji were pretty good. Dropped a lot of ball. Great scrum but had an advantage with Slipper there, and went even harder when Philip came into the second row and got the reward at the end.
They've always been good athletes. Weld a bit of set piece and discipline onto them and they'll go far.
Hope Tonga were watching.
@NTA said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Frost was the shining light of the forward pack. Good in contact, great in the air. Poor bastard has one of his ears half-separated from his head and still going for 80 minutes. Champion.
A few years in the Crusaders system may have benefited Frost.
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@LABCAT said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
who goes through to the QF's if all three teams finish on 15 points?
Several factors influence pool placings and a team’s qualification to the knockout stages. If teams are level on points at the end of the group stage, the list of criteria for deciding who advances is as follows:
- The winner of the match between two tied teams is ranked higher.
- The team with the best points difference in the pool stages is ranked higher.
- The team with the best difference between tries scored and tries conceded in the pool stages is ranked higher.
- The team which has scored the most points in the pool stages is ranked higher.
- The team which has scored the most tries in the pool stages is ranked higher.
Should the teams remain level after steps 1-5, official World Rugby Rankings on a set date will determine the higher ranked team
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@LABCAT said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
who goes through to the QF's if all three teams finish on 15 points?
Several factors influence pool placings and a team’s qualification to the knockout stages. If teams are level on points at the end of the group stage, the list of criteria for deciding who advances is as follows:
- The winner of the match between two tied teams is ranked higher.
- The team with the best points difference in the pool stages is ranked higher.
- The team with the best difference between tries scored and tries conceded in the pool stages is ranked higher.
- The team which has scored the most points in the pool stages is ranked higher.
- The team which has scored the most tries in the pool stages is ranked higher.
Should the teams remain level after steps 1-5, official World Rugby Rankings on a set date will determine the higher ranked team
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Right, I've watched it. TBH it wasn't a complete disaster, but wasn't up to Tier 1 standard.
Rugby, like a lot of sport, is a game of inches. Mostly for us it is the top 2 inches that goes missing.
We had a chance to draw level with 10 to go and fluffed our lines. So many times through the match we made good ground and then didn't secure our ball. Wales will have watched that with interest.
A proper Tier 1 team would have finished that game off. Sliding doors but I'd have backed Rennie's Wallabies to win that game. There, I said it.
Our maul defence was rubbish. Our maul attack not much better. When you're no good at the breakdown, you're no good. The stupidity of some of the penalties was mind-boggling.
White needs to go. The increase in speed was noticeable when IFL came on. Lonergan from the Brumbies should be parachuted in. I don't really rate McDermott's passing either, and if you want to play quick rugby on the fringes you need quick passing.
Petaia does nothing, and in fact is a negative. Partly for his stupid kicking just outside Fiji's 22, but also witness him hanging out on the wing in one of our last attacking plays instead of being close in to support or take a short ball.
I'm fucking sick of over-hyped kids who come out of school or club rugby, having torn it up, only to get all their shit destroyed against grown men. This is why we need a third tier - to sort out this bullshit schoolboy rugby once and for all. But that is a rant for another thread. Put Uelese in that column. Marky Mark not much better but at least offers something on attack.
The inability of the back three to take the high ball cost us a lot. Gordon, Marika, and Marky Mark to take blame there.
But enough about the clods...
Frost was the shining light of the forward pack. Good in contact, great in the air. Poor bastard has one of his ears half-separated from his head and still going for 80 minutes. Champion.
Porecki also good in hitting all his targets.
Valetini was pretty good as well but zero support.
In general we looked flat.
Referee - jeez if we'd had a TMO like that Aussie dickhead the other night there might have been some cards both ways. Brace is someone I have trouble watching, but have no issue with his decision-making in general. Lot of shit missed both ways.
TBH we weren't far away but 1 point behind was too far at this stage of the campaign.
Fiji were pretty good. Dropped a lot of ball. Great scrum but had an advantage with Slipper there, and went even harder when Philip came into the second row and got the reward at the end.
They've always been good athletes. Weld a bit of set piece and discipline onto them and they'll go far.
Hope Tonga were watching.
@NTA Interesting to hear one of the journos at the press conference ask Eddie if Kellaway is a chance to play against Wales. I'm sure I am not the only one puzzled at why he isn't in the starting XV when you see who Jones does select in the back three.
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@NTA Interesting to hear one of the journos at the press conference ask Eddie if Kellaway is a chance to play against Wales. I'm sure I am not the only one puzzled at why he isn't in the starting XV when you see who Jones does select in the back three.
@Bovidae said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
@NTA Interesting to hear one of the journos at the press conference ask Eddie if Kellaway is a chance to play against Wales. I'm sure I am not the only one puzzled at why he isn't in the starting XV when you see who Jones does select in the back three.
Hope Eddie selects the same team
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@NTA Interesting to hear one of the journos at the press conference ask Eddie if Kellaway is a chance to play against Wales. I'm sure I am not the only one puzzled at why he isn't in the starting XV when you see who Jones does select in the back three.
@Bovidae said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
@NTA Interesting to hear one of the journos at the press conference ask Eddie if Kellaway is a chance to play against Wales. I'm sure I am not the only one puzzled at why he isn't in the starting XV when you see who Jones does select in the back three.
Fucking weird eh?
It'll be interesting to see if Gordon gets another run after getting yanked with 30 to go. If he doesn't, Eddie will get accused of not taking a pick n stick approach.
If that happened, he could at least shoehorn in another Randwick player in Kellaway, moving Donaldson to 10.
Personally think we should start IFL with Donaldson in that case.
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@booboo said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Keep up the good work fellas @mariner4life @NTA ...
https://thesilverfern.com/post/753-wallabies-v-fiji-the-kiwi-perspective/
https://thesilverfern.com/post/752-australia-v-fiji-the-aussie-perspective/
a few people over at GAGR will read that and join the dots.I'm more diplomatic over there about people like Petaia because otherwise all the Queenslanders immolate
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Good from Fiji. They've always been big, fast and physical, but today their accuracy at the ruck, their set piece (for 56 minutes) and their mauling was the difference. Played with plenty of width that was giving Australia kittens. Played the ref at the ruck perfectly.
They were done at about 56 minutes and were hanging on. Their lineout fell apart, they couldn't hold the ball, and they started to fall off tackles. But Australia had nothing. Why get in to a 3 minute kicking duel with 6 minutes on the clock and you need a try just to draw? insane decision making
Massive worries for Australia. Their young 10 they've chucked in teh deep end Eddie towed, and will now probably never play again. Discipline appalling, dumb penalty after dumb penalty. Beaten everywhere for most of the game.
I would still take Valetini over any of our loosies though.This pool is so fun. If Aus can beat Wales (and that now looks a huge if) then it's gonna get silly.
@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Their young 10 they've chucked in teh deep end Eddie towed, and will now probably never play again
Gordon is super talented.. I can't believe how bad they've mishandled him
They were asking a lot by making him ten this year, but you could make an argument that he was ready. However, the only ten in the squad? A ten in side that lacks other kicking options? Crazy
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@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Their young 10 they've chucked in teh deep end Eddie towed, and will now probably never play again
Gordon is super talented.. I can't believe how bad they've mishandled him
They were asking a lot by making him ten this year, but you could make an argument that he was ready. However, the only ten in the squad? A ten in side that lacks other kicking options? Crazy
@Duluth said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Their young 10 they've chucked in teh deep end Eddie towed, and will now probably never play again
Gordon is super talented.. I can't believe how bad they've mishandled him
They were asking a lot by making him ten this year, but you could make an argument that he was ready. However, the only ten in the squad? A ten in side that lacks other kicking options? Crazy
and they took no old head to help him manage it. Foley or Cooper, even if you didn't intend to play them much, would have been huge for his confidence and to help him navigate it.
But no, you take only him, and as soon as it gets tough, you tow him? appalling man management (from the outside)
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@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Their young 10 they've chucked in teh deep end Eddie towed, and will now probably never play again
Gordon is super talented.. I can't believe how bad they've mishandled him
They were asking a lot by making him ten this year, but you could make an argument that he was ready. However, the only ten in the squad? A ten in side that lacks other kicking options? Crazy
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@NTA said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
@Higgins said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Australia look to have jammied their way in for the 2027 Webb Ellis Cup on a technicality
A technicality and a fuckload of money for hosting rights.
The system works.
USA Rugby emphatically agrees
@GibbonRib said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
USA Rugby emphatically agrees
I'd back us to turn it around quicker than them. The USA is a basket case.
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@Duluth said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
Their young 10 they've chucked in teh deep end Eddie towed, and will now probably never play again
Gordon is super talented.. I can't believe how bad they've mishandled him
They were asking a lot by making him ten this year, but you could make an argument that he was ready. However, the only ten in the squad? A ten in side that lacks other kicking options? Crazy
and they took no old head to help him manage it. Foley or Cooper, even if you didn't intend to play them much, would have been huge for his confidence and to help him navigate it.
But no, you take only him, and as soon as it gets tough, you tow him? appalling man management (from the outside)
@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
and they took no old head to help him manage it. Foley or Cooper, even if you didn't intend to play them much, would have been huge for his confidence and to help him navigate it.
I'm sure plenty of people would disagree, but I would've had JOC standing next to him at 12
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i still think the guy at 12 is awesome so can't agree. JOC probably just needed to show something this year to get picked, unfortunately he really didn't
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@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
and they took no old head to help him manage it. Foley or Cooper, even if you didn't intend to play them much, would have been huge for his confidence and to help him navigate it.
I'm sure plenty of people would disagree, but I would've had JOC standing next to him at 12
@Duluth said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
@mariner4life said in RWC Week 2: Australia v Fiji:
and they took no old head to help him manage it. Foley or Cooper, even if you didn't intend to play them much, would have been huge for his confidence and to help him navigate it.
I'm sure plenty of people would disagree, but I would've had JOC standing next to him at 12
That isn't a bad call - and let's face it: 2023 Kerevi is a shadow of the pre-injury version so no great loss.
There are other issues we have. At THP we're fucked - AAA, Tupou, and Pone all injured. Any nation missing its top 3 tight heads would be feeling it. But those are injuries, not selection issues, of which we have many.
Eddie's pursuit of a longer term plan for 2025 and 2027 is basically ignoring our paper-thin depth. He could have taken the older heads to France, got similar results, then cleaned house at the end of this year if he wanted.
